


To The Ends of Space

by isuilde, teletou



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, SPACE AU ASTRONAUT AU whatever you want to call it man, Timeline What Timeline, Unrepentant Fluff, bunch of interconnected drabbles, fluff and that's it, gross fluff, ratings might go up we never know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-03-31 10:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3974506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isuilde/pseuds/isuilde, https://archiveofourown.org/users/teletou/pseuds/teletou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This would be a bunch of interconnected but random drabbles that basically center on Makoto and Rin (and the rest of the boys probably) being astronauts. Because space. Come on.</p>
<p>Please excuse the lack of world-building and space research--space trivias is sort of a hobby but this set is really only written for fun, an excuse to unwind and 2 AM shouts about Makoto and Rin in space and all the sappiness that ensues.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. 愛、ひと欠片

**Author's Note:**

> This would be a bunch of interconnected but random drabbles that basically center on Makoto and Rin (and the rest of the boys probably) being astronauts. Because space. Come on.
> 
> Please excuse the lack of world-building and space research--space trivias is sort of a hobby but this set is really only written for fun, an excuse to unwind and 2 AM shouts about Makoto and Rin in space and all the sappiness that ensues.

Before his eyes is a blank space of darkness, dotted with little lights that are hundreds of thousands light years away, and Makoto lets out a shaky breath.

If he turns slightly to the left, he’d see the pale blue slope of earth, curving smoothly like the bottom of an upturned bowl, a beacon of blue expanse in the middle of what feels like nothingness. The earth looks beautifully small from where he is, encased in all white astronaut suits that doesn’t feel like it weighs an ounce, and Makoto reaches out, spreads out his fingers out towards the slope of blue and stares hard until the blue line blurs somewhat into black.

It’s quiet.

“Makoto.”

Rin’s voice is tinny, the only thing that echoes in his ears from the radio, but even then he sounds quiet. Makoto closes his eyes, focusing on the odd sensation of being balanced even if his feet stand on nothing as he slowly turns around from the curve of earth. He listens to Rin’s soft exhale through the radio, tinted with the slightest of statics, and wonders why it still feels so quiet.

Maybe it’s just the way space is. 

He opens his eyes just as Rin enters his line of vision—a lone figure that floats in the darkness, long limbs elegantly stretching out and keeping his balance, reaching out towards Makoto, fingers uncurling. Seconds tick as Makoto leans forward, too, tugging on the cables that keep him from straying too far away from their ship, and surges towards Rin.

Rin, embraced by the all-encompassing darkness dotted by tiny lights hundreds of thousands light years away, grins. 

Slowly, slowly, the distance between them diminishes—suspended in the sea of stars, the tips of their fingers brush ever-so-slightly as their knuckles curl, trying to find purchase. Makoto’s forefinger hooks against Rin’s middle one, and he sees Rin’s grin brighten, feels Rin’s finger pulls him closer, lacing their gloved fingers and threading them together. 

They hang on. In this endless darkness beyond the stars, as the universe spans to spaces unknown, so vast and quiet—here they are, two tiny beings, fingers clutching at one another, trying to keep each other steady even as they drift in zero gravity.

Rin pulls on him again, more insistent, causes Makoto to spin around in attempt to regain his balance as Rin’s arms wind around him—a far more reassuring lifeline compared to the cables that weighs nothing around his hips.

He seamlessly closes the last of the distance between them, helmets bumping gently as they settle in the arms of one another, and they both laugh softly, voice echoing through the staticky radio as they drift in the heart of the vast darkness of nothing, dotted with tiny lights that are hundreds of thousands light years away.

**\-----o0o-----**


	2. 宇宙への道

 

The space suit stands tall as a display in JAXA's lobby. Makoto stops in his step – an awkward pause, one foot in front of the other, his weight behind him as he looks to the side. He still has his arm outstretched forward (doesn't realise that he does, forgets in that one moment) when he wonders, _can he really see...?_

His lets his hand drop to his side, he moves to stand properly, never taking his eyes off the suit. Each step he takes towards it – the sounds of his shoes against the tile – echoes across the room. _It's okay, no one will_ –

It's cold to the touch, smooth. Makoto runs his fingers across the side of the helmet before he holds it firmly, lets the shiver jolt down his knuckles to his wrist. He doesn't know when he had held his breath, but the small gasp that left him almost feels like relief. Standing on the tips of his toes, he sees his own brown hair reflected on the glass, a tint of orange over his–

He hears footsteps following the sound of a closing door. They've stopped somewhere behind him when he whips around, face flushed. Matsuoka-kun looks at him curiously, strands of his red hair falls on his cheek with a tilt of his head.

“ _I-I'm_ –!” Makoto jerks away in surprise. “I'm sorry you had to see that!”

After a few tense bows, Makoto power walks away, hopes that Matsuoka-kun doesn't think he's weird.

(He definitely does, of course he does, and Makoto feels like hiding somewhere.)

 

 

“The fuck?” Rin wonders aloud, watching Tachibana patter away out to the hall. He looks back and forth between the greys of Tachibana's suit jacket and the space suit – was Tachibana trying to get a closer look, or...?

On his tiptoes, he leans in, tries to see what Tachibana saw. His own red eyes looks back at him, along with a fish-eyed distortion of his face, reflected over a layer of orange. Rin almost wants to laugh, can't help the crinkle of his eyes, the grin tugging at his mouth.

“Silly,” he breathes out. “There's no way that would've had worked.”

_Is that what he wanted to see...?_

Rin looks back up towards the helmet – imagines Tachibana doing the same – hopes that his reflection would look like as if he's inside the space suit.

“ _Silly,_ ” he says again, shaking his head.

(Because of course it doesn't. He'll have to wait and actually wear one, to see himself in one of them.)

**\-----o0o-----**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watch too much Space Brothers. I'm sorry.


	3. 夏待ち風

Haru looks like he's going to fall face first into his meal, have his forehead acquainted with the piece of grilled sanma laid out in front of him. He sways a bit, eyes drooping, before he jerks upright, tightly gripping his chopsticks in attempt to keep himself awake. Makoto can almost feel the splinters dig into his skin. Haru was never one to deal with odd hours – he can't really empathise, but he still smiles weakly.

“Makoto.” His voice is slurred, a soft murmur with odd lilts. He wishes Haru would stop insisting on meeting up for breakfast (or dinner, in Haru's case), his shift isn't the most forgiving in the world, surely they could meet at a better time.

“Don't be stupid.” Makoto flinches when Haru clinks his chopsticks down across the top of his bowl. “We won't be able to meet at all.”

Makoto idly swirls the bowl of miso in his hand. “I still don't like seeing you so tired, Haru.”

“It's fine. I'm going to sleep right after this.”

When Haru leaves the cafetaria, he stops two steps away from the door and tries to hold back a yawn. “Before I forget, go set up your telescope at eight tonight. You'll know what to look for.”

 

 

A bamboo tree in front of a coffee shop near Wakabadai Station, coloured paper hanging in streams in between cramped shops. Makoto paused for a moment to look, almost blankly as people pass by, ignoring the odd young man who suddenly stopped in the middle of the road on his walk home. One of the waitresses from the cafe looks at him disapprovingly through door's the glass pane, and Makoto flushes red. He gives her a quick bow, walks away, sees a piece of paper flutter up when he brushes past.

He hopes that one Sanada Erika-san would be able to meet the person she's waiting for, tonight.

 

 

He doesn't know what to expect, when a flash of light blinks across the sky. His shadow shifts on the floor, cast by the light streaming from his bedroom, when he moves. Slow, lingering steps forward, mouth parted around slow exhales as he keeps his gaze upwards. Telescope forgotten, he barely registers the cool touch on his fingers around the railing when he loosey grips the bar.

The light disappears from his sight, and something in him bubbles, tight around his chest, warm on his cheeks. Makoto rushes into his room, knocks the telescope into a spin, and towards the genkan. He's sure he has mismatched shoes on, but he runs, _keeps running,_ into the street, passing city lights.

 

 

“Haru warned me you'd run over here.”

Makoto doesn't brush away the sweat beading at his temple, sliding down his chin. He misses that smile, misses the shock of red hair across the screen. Leaning forward, he feels the weight on his chest lift with every word that tumbles out.

“I saw you, Rin!” He gasps. “ _Two minutes._ For two minutes, you were like a shooting star! It's like I really felt you there... You're amazing, Rin.”

Rin laughs, muffled around the static. He sees the little crinkles at the edge of his eyes, the small bounce of his hair, the way his shoulders shake. “What are you talking about? You're going to be here soon too, right?”

Makoto breathes, a sharp inhale, fists trembling at his sides. “I am.”

“We don't need to wait for every time the ISS passes over Japan to see each other.” Rin places a hand over the camera, covering the right side of the screen. He tilts his head when he smiles, peeking from behind the shadow. “Right?”

“We don't,” Makoto agrees, placing his own hand over Rin's.

**\-----o0o-----**


End file.
